The StoneHenge blog

Maybe it's a coincidence, but three times this week I have talked to companies who are unhappy with their websites. "It looks good, but it doesn't do anything for my business," they say. "How come nobody uses my website?"

So we talked it through, and in all three cases, the problem was the same. I call it Ben's First Rule of the Internet: No Website Is an Island.

See, they thought a website is something you turn on and it just runs, like a TV. But if you want success on the web - if you want people to find your needle in the web haystack - then your website is a part (a small part, actually) of a comprehensive online marketing strategy. Here are a few thoughts.

Operating your website

• Analytics. Install Google Analytics -- it's free. Once installed, you'll be able to track how many people are visiting you, where they are coming from, what pages they are looking at, and from what page are they leaving. It closes the feedback loop with your users, because you find out how they are actually using your site and you can adjust to fit their needs better.
• Content management. You need an easy way to keep your stuff current, and a content management system will allow you to do that. There are many out there. We use Umbraco, an open-source CMS based on the Microsoft environment (C#, ASP.NET framework, SQL Server). But you could install a CMS based on the PHP platform, like WordPress, Joomla! or Drupal. And no, updating a Flash file is not a CMS.

Optimizing for search engines

Every search engine runs an automated program, called a spider, that crawls your site periodically. It looks for new content, incoming links, outgoing links. It ignores spam tricks (like hidden text) and it is blind to Flash, pictures and video. Spiders eat text. Optimizing for search engines involves a lot of little things, but here are a few:

• URL. Every page needs a unique URL. That's the weakness of a portal site, like SharePoint or Joomla, in which the URL is a query string (http://www.domain.com/index.php?Itemid=12). Google (Yahoo, MSN, ASK, etc.) may interpret this to mean you have a one-page website. A self-contained Flash site really is one page, to a spider.
• Title. Every page needs a unique <title> tag, something that describes the specific purpose of this page. It's one of the most important factors a search engine uses to differentiate between pages on your site.  tag. That's the text that appears in the browser bar at the top. Google uses this to differentiate between pages on your site - what is the purpose of each page.
• Sitemap. The site needs a sitemap page. Ideally it should be Google optimized. This page allows you to expose "hidden" pages in your nav tree to the spiders.
• Alt text. Every Flash object, image, or video needs text that describes what it is. Remember, spiders can't eat images, only text.
• Source. Your source code should content at the top, code at the bottom. A spider will only read so far down a page before it gives up and moves on to the next page. So offload styling into a separate stylesheet, offload javascript into a separate JS file, and move non-content code, like your Google Analytics urchin, to the bottom of the source.
• Content. You need new content on a regular basis, at least once a month. Every time a spider comes by, it indexes your new content higher than your competitor's old content.
• Links. You need to share links with related websites. You should have a page of Partners links and a page of Sponsors links, and ask them to crosslink back to you.
• Registration. You ought to register with every search engine so they know you're out there. If you don't, Google might find you, but Yahoo or Ask might not. Also, by registering you can give them extra information that helps you in Local searches (see below.) It's free.
• Local search. Increasingly, people filter searches by narrowing it to their city. Yahoo Local caters to this trend. For example, go to Yahoo Local and search for "Ministry" in "Tulsa, OK", and here's what you get: http://local.yahoo.com/results;_ylt=AlvMPpHLLSEyMnp3Szh_k2qHNcIF;_ylv=3?p=ministry&csz=Tulsa%2C+OK+74107 . To appear in local searches, you must have your name, address, city, state, zip, and phone number on every page of your site. In the footer (at the bottom) is good. To appear in local directories, like YellowPages.com, you must register with them. It's free.

Website marketing strategy

Lots has been written about what features a website should offer. Here are two I see consistently overlooked.

• Contact Us. A link that spawns an email is not as persuasive as an online form. Add a simple form page that allows people to contact you online. And add a page of bios of senior management. You want people to get a sense of who you are.
• Blog. Every site should have a Blog section, in which the owner expresses his opinions about stuff. Visitors read the blog to get a sense of who you are - what kind of person are you, what do you believe in, where do you pour your passion? Plus, bloggers crosslink to each other, so blogging gives you entry into that neighborhood of the web.

Online marketing strategy

Now we come to the point of this post. As important as all of the steps  above are, they work best in the context of a comprehensive online marketing strategy. Beyond your website, what are you doing? Here are some ideas. 

• Advertise. Google Ads http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/ads/ads_2.html might be worth a trial balloon.
  • Broad keywords can be expensive. "School assembly," for example, will cost you $1.22 per click.
  • However, more narrowly defined keywords are cheaper. "Christmas school assembly" is only 5 cents per click, for example.
• Go where your new customers are. Set up a page on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php that describes you, and set up a "Fans of [company]" group there. Set up your own channel in YouTube http://www.youtube.com/ and upload your videos to it. Set yourself up in LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/ and link to your customers. Add photos to Flickr. Go to ... well, you get the point: Figure out where your customers are likely to congregate, then make yourself visible there.
• Talk with your loyal customers. You have a built-in sales force: previous customers who would be happy to use you again and recommend you to new customers. Talk to them. Send them a monthly email newsletter. Constant Contact http://www.constantcontact.com is a service by which you can manage a list of email addresses, and send them an email as often as you want. It's free for the first 100 email addresses. Your email newsletter should tell your customers what's new with you and should ask them to reply with testimonials about how they like your service. This does three things: It moves you to top of mind when they are thinking about your product, it creates the impression you want to keep in touch, and it gives you a way of gathering testimonials that you can then add to your website, recycle into next month's newsletter, etc.

I know this looks overwhelming, but it needs to be done if you want success on the web - if you want people to "find your needle in the web haystack." Some of these ideas are technical changes. Some are content changes to your site. And some are strategic initiatives you can start.